Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Born in Edmonton. Raised in Calgary. Currently living in the SF Bay Area. A high school dropout and a mother at 17, in my early years, I supported myself as a stock girl in the Hudson’s Bay Company, as a long distance operator for the former Alberta Government Telephones, and as a secretary (Bechtel Corp sponsored me into the States). I also was a cocktail waitress at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco; briefly broke into the male-dominated world of the docks as a longshoreman (and almost got my legs broken); founded and managed a homeless shelter in Marin County; co-created THE STORY SHOPPE, a weekly radio program for children that aired on KTIM in Marin County; and eventually earned two Master’s degrees (one in Creative writing and one in the Humanities). I’ve published reviews, interviews, short fiction, poetry, travel pieces, essays, and memoir in over 150 American and Canadian venues. Fling!, one of my novels, was published in July 2015 by Pen-L Publishing. Bone Songs, another novel, will be published in 2016. My poetry collection All This was published in 2011. You can learn more about me at my blog: lilyionamackenzie.wordpress.com.

FLING: When ninety-year-old Bubbles receives a letter from Mexico City asking her to pick up her mother’s ashes, lost there seventy years earlier and only now surfacing, she hatches a plan. A woman with a mission, Bubbles convinces her hippie daughter Feather to accompany her on the quest. Both women have recently shed husbands and have a secondary agenda: they’d like a little action. And they get it.

Alternating narratives weave together Feather and Bubbles’ odyssey. The two women travel south from Canada to Mexico where Bubbles’ long-dead mother, grandmother, and grandfather turn up, enlivening the narrative with their hilarious antics.

In Mexico, where reality and magic co-exist, Feather gets a new sense of her mother, and Bubbles’ quest for her mother’s ashes—and a new man—increases her zest for life. Unlike most women her age, fun-loving Bubbles takes risks, believing she’s immortal. She doesn’t hold back in any way, eating heartily and lusting after strangers, exulting in her youthful spirit.

Readers will believe they’ve found the fountain of youth themselves in this character. At ninety, Bubbles comes into her own, coming to age, proving it’s never too late to fulfill one’s dreams.

1.What
inspired you to write Fling?

I think it began because I was curious about my mother’s mother,
someone I had never met. My grandfather, a former Scottish schoolmaster, had
immigrated to Calgary, Canada, hoping to find a better life there for himself
and his family. Meanwhile, WWI broke out, and his wife and four kids couldn’t
join him for seven years. When they did, my grandmother couldn’t adjust to the
brutal winters or to her abusive husband. After being there a year, she moved
out, refusing to put up with my grandpa’s meanness, and became a housekeeper
for a wealthy family. The story is that her boss took her to Mexico with him.
She never returned. I wanted to try and recreate what life might have been
like for her once she left Canada, and that then brought in a number of other
characters that inhabit the novel.

2.Can
you please describe the relationship between Bubbles and Feather?

As with many mothers and daughters,
it’s a complex one. Abandonment is a theme that runs through all of the female
characters’ lives in Fling! That sets
up a dynamic of mistrust and recriminations. These things surface in the novel
as each woman comes to a new understanding of her relationship with her mother.

3.What
was the hardest part about writing this book?

Finding the right voice. When I first
started working on the novel, I wanted to write a lyrical narrative, but the
characters refused to be portrayed in that way. They were feisty, zany,
comical. So I had to adapt my approach to their stories by letting them show me
the way. The results are what Lewis Buzbee, professor of creative writing in
USF’s MFA program, calls the madcap journey of an aging mother and her
adult daughter from cold Protestant Canada into the hallucinogenic heart of
Mexico's magic, where the past literally comes to life.Every page is a surprise…”

4.What
do you hope readers will gain from your book?

Deeper insight into the complexities
of family dynamics. Every family is different, of course, but each one has secrets
and buried stories. Bringing those things to the surface can be healing, just
as they are in a good individual therapy or psychoanalysis. As Lionel Trilling
has said, novels read us as much as we read them. So I would hope that readers
of Fling! might come to some new
understanding of themselves. Also, some characters in the book are searching
for the fountain of youth, and my belief is that it exists in the imagination.
Without a fertile one, we are already dead.

5.What
inspired you to be a writer?

I don’t think I was inspired to be a
writer because that suggests a level of choice.I am a writer.Writing chose me. It’s as necessary to me as
eating. If I don’t write, I’m cranky and irritable. Ask my husband!

6.What
do you like best and what do you like least about being a writer?

I love entering new worlds and
exploring new characters and making unexpected discoveries as a narrative
unfolds. I never know where a work is going. It’s totally spontaneous. That’s
the fun and adventure of writing. But it’s also one of the more difficult parts
because I have to trust each time that material will surface, and I will
eventually have a story to tell. The other thing I love about writing is
revision. To me, that’s where the real writing happens. I already have
something tangible to work with, so the fear of not finding my way is lessened.

7.Who
are some of your favorite authors?

I have so many that I’ll never be able to cover them all here! I love
the Norwegian novelist Per Petterson and have read all of his books. I’ve also
read most of Gabriel Marquez’s work. One
Hundred Years of Solitude found me at a time when I needed a model for the
magical realism approach that seems natural to me and inhabits much of my work.
I love that book and return to it
often for inspiration.

In another mode, Roberto Bolano, a Chilean writer, has also inspired
me. He diverges from the more familiar magical realist vein and creates his own
genre. I’ve read most of his books now, and they construct a world that seems
like a parallel universe to ours. He also steps beyond the usual fiction
boundaries, violating our expectations of how a novel should unfold or end. I’m
always entranced by his work.

And I haven’t mentioned W.G. Sebald yet, another writer who died far
too young. He’s also invented a new genre, a hybrid novel form. Again, I’ve
read all of his work, and I’m stunned by it.

I’m sorry that all of these authors are men when there are so many
female writers I love as well. How can I not mention my countrywoman Alice
Munro? Or Irish writer Anne Enright. I’ll read anything she writes because of
her sharp wit and illuminations of contemporary life.

8.If
your book would be turned into a movie, who would you imagine playing the part
of the main character? (Actor can be ANYONE, living or dead.)

No actors come readily to mind, I’m
afraid. Bubbles and Feather and all the rest are so distinctive to me that it’s
difficult to imagine someone being able to inhabit their characters.

9.Are
you working on anything right now?

It’s hard to describe a latest project since I’m usually working on
more than one thing simultaneously. I’m revising my novel Bone Songs that will be published in 2016. I’m also working on a
novel whose focus is Tillie, a younger version of the main character in another
novel of mine, Freefall: a Divine Comedy. Its title is Tillie: A Portrait of a Canadian Girl in
Training. There’s a novella I’m about two thirds of the way through, The Sinner’s Club. And I have several short
stories in process.

10.And, finally, what do you think is in
store for the future of Latino literature?

Since my fiction has been so
influenced by the Latino sensibility (I haven’t mentioned here all of the Latino
writers that have helped shaped my work), I can only hope that it will continue
to flourish. It has such distinctive voices. I’ve already mentioned Roberto
Bolano, but there are many more I could name if there were the space. I think
each Latino writer I’ve read is unique in his/her approach to narrative and
offers a rich vein for readers to explore.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Raised in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, Isandra Collazo Rivera is a self-proclaimed citizen of the world. She's an enthusiast of international cuisine and foreign music, devoted to learn from other people's cultures, and sharing their life stories with the purpose of breaking down the walls of fear and prejudice.

She'd majored in Foreign Languages and Tourism with the goal of becoming a tour guide one day, but all of her plans changed when she felt a calling to serve the community within her Caribbean Island, as well as beyond its beautiful, white sand beaches. Committed to help bring change into the world, Isandra is now a Christian missionary, human rights defender, orator, and philanthropist.

With her debut novel; Across the Border: Interview with a Refugee, she hopes to raise awareness on many social issues happening today, and that way inspire others to raise a voice for those in need.

1. What inspired you to
write Across the Border: Interview with a Refugee?

While living in the
Netherlands, I met several individuals of different countries who spontaneously
shared part of their life stories with me, particularly their testimonies of
how they abandoned their countries of origin due to wars, persecution and lack
of opportunities, and of the challenges they encountered abroad. However, it
was when I listened to the story of an Iraqi refugee, when I knew that I had to
write a book about what I saw and experienced with each one of them.

2. Did you relate to the
main character, Isabel, in any way? If so, what?

Idefinitely relate to
Isabel in many aspects, seeing that most of her experiences in the Netherlands
were actually my own. But in terms of personality, we are a little different.

3. What was the hardest
part about writing this book?

I would say that the
hardest part was to remain neutral when describing the persecution of
Christians in the Middle East from Samir’s perspective. It is not always easy
to remain “politically-correct” when you write or speak about these type of
subjects, or when you feel somewhat obligated to criticize a particular
religion or culture.

4. What are some of the
main issues that you explore in this book and why did you explore them?

The book explores several
issues and situations that occur to diverse immigrants while living within a
modern society. However, the main issues discussed in this novel are the
persecution of Christians in the Middle East (particularly towards the Assyrian
nation), and the dangers that refugees encounter when fleeing their war-torn
countries. I explore them because they are happening in this day and age, in a
rather relentless and brutal manner.

5. What do you hope
readers will gain from your book?

Apart from being
captivated by Isabel and Samir’s escalating intercultural romance, I hope
readers will become aware of the hardships and tribulations refugees face when
trying to reach a safe haven. I also hope they learn the importance of uniting
in solidarity with those who suffer discrimination and persecution, to learn of
the different social causes, and realize that integrating with people of other
cultures and beliefs can be both culturally and spiritually enriching.

6. What do you like best
and what do you like least about being a writer?

The creative process is
invigorating and exciting, especially when you write down those lines which
give you chills no matter how many times you read them. That would be my
favorite part. On the other hand, my least favorite part is the fact that the
creative process itself can be very lonely. In order to write, I’ve had to
isolate myself more than I ever imagined.

7. Who are some of your
favorite authors?

I enjoy Paulo Coelho’s
novels for the quick way they transport me to other places. I have experienced
that also with Dan Brown’s work, as well as Isabel Allende’s novels. I can’t be
too specific when it comes to choosing an author, but I will grab anything that
I find intriguing and compelling. At the moment I’m reading some of Brian
Weiss’ work, never imagining that I would be into the “past life regression”
subject. It is quite amazing. And next in line is a memoir by Camilo Mejía as
his testimony as a sergeant in Iraq; another obsession of mine.

8. If your book would be
turned into a movie, who would you imagine playing the part of the maincharacter? (Actor can be
ANYONE, living or dead.)

Isabel’s look was inspired
on actress Angelica Celaya. When I first saw her playing “Zed” in the
Constantine series, I knew she was the one. So if there’s a movie, I will move
heaven and earth to get her to play Isabel. As for Samir, that’s tricky. No one
can be Samir except for Samir himself, the real-life one, because there are two
essential attributes he possesses that are difficult to match; his deep,
heavily-accented voice and his gaze. However, I’ve thought about a few actors
that could portray the mysterious Iraqi quite well; Manu Bennett (For his epic
role in Spartacus), Tamer Hosny, and Turkish actors Engin Akyurek or Burak
Ozcivit.

9. Are you working on
anything right now?

Definitely. I’m working on
the sequel of my novel, as well as on the Spanish edition. I am really looking
forward to completing the series, but also to seeing this first book translated
into many languages.

10. And, finally, what
do you think is in store for the future of Latino literature?

I feel that Latino
literature focuses a lot on identity, social criticism and nationalism. When it
comes to our community there’s always a tendency to write mainly about these
particular subjects. Surely that’s a good thing, for it shows that we strive to
highlight our history and our social battles. No matter what the genre may be;
fiction, non-fiction, poetry or any other, controversy is somehow present in
Latino books. And it should be, because as writers we want to make an impact on
our readers. So I truly feel that Latino literature has been inspiring
throughout the years, and lately it’s been heading towards new horizons, for
example; LGBT literature. This may not be my cup of tea, but it’s “the new
thing” nonetheless, and there’s a huge market for it.